[Nobbie]

My garlic crop was disappointing this year due to rust and as a result I have a lot of small cloves. Just wondering what results people have had with planting small cloves. Did you get a normal crop, or did they just grow into uncloved single bulbs. I was going to plant them in modules fairly soon to give them a bit of a head start.

[Annen]

I have planted small cloves the next year and they were ok, but not huge. 

I have heard that it is best to plant the largest cloves for garlic and the smallest sets for onions. How true this is I do not know 

[Steveharford]

Even a small clove ought to give you a full bulb Nobby. If not a big one it should still be divided. My advice, for what its worth, is to prepare your ground properly i.e. get the drainage right, lots of fertiliser e.g. BFB, keep well watered and give a dose of Sulphate of potash in early spring. On top of that, I would say, plant big cloves. If that means buying some in it will pay dividends as you wont need to do it again as you will be able to save your own from then on. We all appear to have suffered from rust this year but most of us have still managed a good crop. I believe you will too with the above approach. Oh and keep weed free, which I am not really too good at. Good luck.

[Nobbie]

Even a small clove ought to give you a full bulb Nobby. If not a big one it should still be divided. My advice, for what its worth, is to prepare your ground properly i.e. get the drainage right, lots of fertiliser e.g. BFB, keep well watered and give a dose of Sulphate of potash in early spring. On top of that, I would say, plant big cloves. If that means buying some in it will pay dividends as you wont need to do it again as you will be able to save your own from then on. We all appear to have suffered from rust this year but most of us have still managed a good crop. I believe you will too with the above approach. Oh and keep weed free, which I am not really too good at. Good luck.

I think you're right about the soil, I only got the plot last year and it was pretty solid clay. Almost needed a pick axe to get them out of the ground. I've managed to improve another area of the plot, so will throw them in there.

[Steveharford]

In that case Nobbie I would suggest getting some sharp sand into it as well. I add sand and also cheap MPC to lighten up the clay soil and improve drainage.

[Growster...]

Nobbie, we had exactly the same situation, so I popped each piece into individual module pots of compost, and when they were larger, transferred them to a manured bed.

They finished as quite small cloves, but the flavour is intense, and we're very happy with them, although they're a bit fiddly to peel etc!

They were bought two years ago, and didn't do anything last year, but we found them sprouting in the shed so gave it a go!

[Headgardener22]

Even a small clove ought to give you a full bulb Nobby. If not a big one it should still be divided. My advice, for what its worth, is to prepare your ground properly i.e. get the drainage right, lots of fertiliser e.g. BFB, keep well watered and give a dose of Sulphate of potash in early spring. On top of that, I would say, plant big cloves. If that means buying some in it will pay dividends as you wont need to do it again as you will be able to save your own from then on. We all appear to have suffered from rust this year but most of us have still managed a good crop. I believe you will too with the above approach. Oh and keep weed free, which I am not really too good at. Good luck.

I think you're right about the soil, I only got the plot last year and it was pretty solid clay. Almost needed a pick axe to get them out of the ground. I've managed to improve another area of the plot, so will throw them in there.

If you've gone to the effort to improve the soil, why waste the area on something that might not do well? I thought one of the reasons not to replant your own onions and garlic was the possibility of perpetuating disease. (I get whiterot in some areas of my allotment so make sure that I don't replant onions and garlic because I thought I would spread it around).

[Kristen]

If you've gone to the effort to improve the soil, why waste the area on something that might not do well?

I agree, but I hate failure and don't subscribe to the "try it and see" school of knocks! I prefer the "let someone else experiment" method!

I thought one of the reasons not to replant your own onions and garlic was the possibility of perpetuating disease. (I get whiterot in some areas of my allotment so make sure that I don't replant onions and garlic because I thought I would spread it around).

Whiterot is very very infectious, so if you have that on the plot you would have to be very careful.

For Garlic there is a school of thought that replanting your own will cause it to adapt to your environment over several generations.  Important that it is disease free though.

I have read that Whiterot can be combated by watering the soil with water in which garlic has been crushed - the theory being that this stimulates the whiterot to "germinate", it find no actual Onions as hosts and dies.  Successive treatment will weaken the whiterot spores and eventually there will be none left to germinate. No first hang experience though.

[JayG]

If you've gone to the effort to improve the soil, why waste the area on something that might not do well? I thought one of the reasons not to replant your own onions and garlic was the possibility of perpetuating disease. (I get whiterot in some areas of my allotment so make sure that I don't replant onions and garlic because I thought I would spread it around).

Two ways of looking at it from my perspective - I don't have white rot in my garden, so replanting my own garlic and shallots, and growing onions from seed is a good way of making sure I don't introduce it by inadvertently buying some dodgy bulbs or sets.

On the other hand, I have an annual battle with Botrytis allii which has caused some of my shallots to rot in storage, and which I may be passing on from year to year, although it never affects the garlic, and only slightly affects the shallots if I rotate the crop as much as is feasible and am super-fastidious (and quick) about drying them for storage.
In my experience it is much less to be feared than white rot.

[Headgardener22]

"For Garlic there is a school of thought that replanting your own will cause it to adapt to your environment over several generations.  Important that it is disease free though."

I hadn't heard that one, I knew that using supermarket bought cloves was not recommended because they have been grown in hot climes and so not suitable for UK growing but not that your own would adapt. I suppose you should use the best cloves for this approach, not much point in perpetuating poor plants. 

[Kristen]

I suppose you should use the best cloves for this approach, not much point in perpetuating poor plants. 

My recommendation would be to spend the money in Year 1 on good quality, certified disease free, cloves that are suitable for UK - and then aim to plant your own in subsequent years (provided not diseased)

For example, some cloves from The Garlic Farm

[Snoop]

I have just planted out a lot of very small cloves. In fact, I even bought them for the purpose, as many people here do to pick them at a very young stage in early spring when all you have is leaves and a very small, undivided clove. If you don't want to waste them but think they might not develop well, you could try that. The result is called "ajo tierno" (tender garlic) here and is delicious.

[Headgardener22]

I have just planted out a lot of very small cloves. In fact, I even bought them for the purpose, as many people here do to pick them at a very young stage in early spring when all you have is leaves and a very small, undivided clove. If you don't want to waste them but think they might not develop well, you could try that. The result is called "ajo tierno" (tender garlic) here and is delicious.

Isn't that what we call "green garlic"?

[Snoop]

Isn't that what we call "green garlic"?

Thanks, I had no idea what it's called in the UK. I've never seen it for sale there. Have just Goggled and yes, it's green garlic. Although from the images on Goggle, it would look as if it's lifted when it's at a smaller stage here.

[Nobbie]

Looks like I'll throw them into some good soil along with some bigger cloves as a backup. It'll be interesting to see how they turn out